Female characters in literature
The strong female character is a stock character, the opposite of the damsel in distress. In the first half of the 20th century, the rise of mainstream feminism and the increased use of the concept in the later 20th century have reduced the concept to a standard item of pop culture fiction.
4 episodes
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Jane Eyre
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell.
18 June 2015
Featuring: Dinah Birch, Karen O'Brien, Sara Lyons
CultureBritish novels adapted into filmsVictorian novels1847 British novelsBritish novels adapted into television showsBritish bildungsromansHarper & Brothers booksBritish Gothic novelsNovels adapted into balletsSmith, Elder & Co. booksWorks published under a pseudonymFemale characters in literatureNovels set in the 19th centuryFiction about suicideLove storiesBritish novels adapted into playsMadame Bovary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the literary sensation caused by the trial for indecency of Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary.
12 July 2007
Featuring: Andy Martin, Mary Orr, Robert Gildea
Mrs Dalloway
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs Dalloway, published in 1925.
3 July 2014
Featuring: Hermione Lee, Jane Goldman, Kathryn Simpson
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, which challenged Victorian morality and made Hardy's fortune when published in the 1890s.
5 May 2016
Featuring: Dinah Birch, Francis O'Gorman, Jane Thomas